New Year—New Look—New Focus for The Fort
(January 2009)
If you haven’t stopped in to visit with us at the Lexington Genealogy and Historical Society for a while, you might be surprised at our new look. We decided to begin this year with a short tour of our updated facility, especially for those members and patrons who only get to visit us by internet or letter. You might be surprised to know that the little, unimposing, brick building sitting at 318 West Main in Lexington is an international organization!
Yes, we count nearly 175 folks from all over the world when we check our membership lists and mail out our newsletters twice a year. Jean from Saskatchewan, Canada makes us an international organization! Our other current members come from 27 of the 50 states in the US. We even correspond with many of the remaining 23 states that are home to some of the patrons who contact us regularly for information and research questions, but aren’t official members.
As you enter our building you sign in or get information at the antique counter that was custom made many years ago by a volunteer of the society. It now defines the office area and houses our mail boxes and some office supplies on the back side.
The new office area houses our president’s desk and master computer that is reserved for the use of our volunteer in charge for the day. We are working on making a digital index for all our data and this computer will be the master input device. Volunteers find it convenient being near the door to greet visitors and offer assistance to patrons, and they’ve mentioned that they enjoy the view of Main Street out the front window. Our 5 day work week of Tuesday through Saturday is staffed entirely by society volunteers, who not only help folks who visit the facility, but also do research for patrons who contact us by mail.
The updates at The Fort began in early 2008 with new red carpeting and sturdy shelving installed by Dennie Hieronymus, our former president and daily manager. Dennie was able to obtain some shelves that were being replaced at a local store and he spent many hours fitting them to accommodate our many files and folders.
The shelving is always a prime concern since our collections of local obituaries and other historical information continues to grow each day, but the walls of the building are still the same dimensions as the day they were built in the 1800s as the old State Bank. We still use the old bank vault to store our most special items and consider “our vault” a unique feature of the society.
This sturdy storage unit with large working surface was custom made for us by our long-time volunteer Bennie Swager. It houses the old census records, indexes, and marriage records that we have in written form from Ford, Livingston, McLean, and Woodford counties. It’s just the right height to pull up a stool for sitting and there’s plenty of room to lay out several books to easily copy the discovered information.
Our main focus of research at The Fort centers on the Illinois counties of Woodford, Livingston, Ford and McLean. The largest obituary collection is that of McLean County, but each of the 4 counties has a number of volunteers who specialize in collecting the data for their particular county of expertise. Our method of collection consists of saving the obituaries according to the cemetery of burial. Each cemetery’s inhabitants are listed in a master index to assist in quick location of the obit in a particular cemetery book. Indexing and cross-checking is an exacting and time consuming job for the volunteers, but is certainly appreciated whenever “the search is on.”
This area is our main research work center consisting of a volunteer’s desk to house materials—tape, white-out, scissors, glue, etc.—and several tables and comfortable chairs for patrons to sit in a well-lighted area to do research. Recently we had 4 volunteers and 4 patrons all working at the same time and there was plenty of room for everyone to have their own spot to sit. Having enough room for everyone had always been a problem in the past, so we are very pleased with our new layout.
This floor to ceiling area houses our collection of information by Family Name. Our patrons have donated these materials over the years as they researched their own family and then shared a copy of their findings with us to preserve it for future generations. The information ranges in size from a few pages to large published books, and we treasure each one. There have been some interesting stories about how folks have found a long lost relationship through the research of another family.
This is our new library area. We have moved some of the older shelving into rows to make an area to store many of the miscellaneous items our society has acquired over the years and to make these items more accessible to our patrons. These items may include books written about people or institutions in our area, how-to books, collections of newsletters, or other historically related resources like maps, plats, or atlases. We were all so pleased when a volunteer recently began updating the lighting in this area and made it so much brighter and nicer.
This area is our computer, printer, copier area and houses the collection of hardware that allows us to easily share our data with others. Volunteers can make copies for patrons and will soon be able to look up information quickly on our digital index. At this time we do not have internet access, but our computers will be compatible for that service if we decide to add it at a future time. Our copiers are now able to scan, print, and copy for added versatility. Notice the antique table donated by Mrs. Helen Patton many years ago. It was from the old State Bank building and has special meaning for all society members.
Besides the printed resources, we also have access to many items stored on microfilm. Old newspapers, marriage licenses, census records, death records, and birth records are among the stored items. We have several different kinds of machines that can read the films and one of our machines can even print out treasured items that are discovered on the viewer.
A fall water problem in the basement necessitated a cleaning and reorganization of that area, too. Many new water-proof storage containers were purchased and put to good use to prevent damage to the few items that must be stored on the lower level. Trying to be pro-active in taking preventive measures—a recent fire inspection, updated insurance policy, and new smoke and CO2 detectors—were among the recent efforts for the society. We still try to preserve the little touches that make this place unique—like the historical pictures of Lexington’s founders on “the tree.”
It’s always a marvel for us to look around and think that this place and everything in it has grown from one woman’s question about her family’s background. (CLICK HERE to read more about Verda Gerwick.) This place has survived fire, flood, and many changes over the years, but it continues to thrive with the original goal still shared today.
We hope you have enjoyed this short tour of our society’s home. Thanks to the countless hours of donated time by many volunteers and the support of devoted patrons, the Lexington Genealogy and Historical Society will continue to grow and prosper. Our wish, as we begin 2009, is to continue to serve our patrons well and be true to those who gave so much before us to preserve the history of our area. By Jan Heuer